Bsquare, a provider of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, released the findings of its first annual IIoT Maturity Study. This explores the current IoT adoption progress of business buyers in Manufacturing, Transportation, and Oil and Gas (O&G).

According to the 2017 study, 86% of industrial organisations are currently adopting IoT solutions and 84% believe those solutions are very or extremely effective. In addition, 95% believe that IoT has a significant or tremendous impact on their industry. However, the study also shows that most IIoT investments are focused on connectivity (78%) and data visualisation (83%). In addition, only 48% are doing advanced analytics on that data and only a small number (28%) are automating the application of insights derived from analytics.

“Our study shows that while industrial organisations have enthusiastically adopted IIoT, a majority have not yet moved to more advanced analytics-driven orchestration of data insights,” said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing at Bsquare.

“These later stages of IIoT maturity—analytics, orchestration and true edge computing—tend to be where most of the ROI is realised. This is especially important because, according to our study, the number one reason cited for IIoT adoption is cost reduction.”

Bsquare’s 2017 Annual IIoT Maturity Study was conducted in the United States in August 2017, and reached more than 300 respondents at companies with annual revenues in excess of $250 million (€214.53 million). Participants were evenly divided among three industry groups (Manufacturing, Transportation, and O&G) and titles covered a wide spectrum of senior-level personnel with operational responsibilities, most of whom had spent an average of six years in their organisations.

Key highlights from the report include:

The vast majority (86%) of organisations are deploying IIoT solutions, led by Construction/Transportation (93%) and followed by O&G (89%) and Manufacturing (77%).
Nearly two-thirds (73%) of all businesses plan to increase their IoT investments over the next 12 months, despite almost every respondent acknowledging that IoT deployments are complex.
Nine out of 10 decision-makers feel it is very or somewhat important for their organisation to adopt IoT solutions. And 95% perceive IoT as having either a significant or tremendous impact on their industry at a global level.
Industrial organisations are using IoT most frequently for device connectivity and data forwarding (78%), real-time monitoring (56%), and advanced data analytics (48%). More mature uses of IoT, such as automation and enhanced on-board intelligence, are also prevalent in industrial settings.

Kevin Walsh

More than 90% of IIoT adopters cite device-health as the primary reason for IoT adoption followed by logistics (67%), reducing operating costs (24%) and increasing production volume (18%).
More than half of organisations are using annual subscription models for their IIoT solutions, and 77% use a cloud-based model. Amazon and Microsoft were tied (14%) for the preferred cloud service provider.

The IoT Maturity Index outlines the stages commonly associated with Industrial IoT technology adoption. Each phase typically builds on the previous one, allowing organisations to drive maximum value as they progress through the index.

Interoute, a global cloud and network provider, has revealed new survey results showing almost two-thirds (63%) of businesses across Europe are anticipating high growth in the year ahead.

Despite its turbulent outlook, the UK was only slightly behind the European average at 61%. As the political climate presents opportunities for those countries and companies that can move at pace, on average 70% believed Britain leaving the EU was an opportunity for their company.

In the survey of more than 800 European IT decision-makers, business confidence surrounding Britain leaving the EU was highest in France (83%) and Belgium (78%) but lowest in Sweden (49%). While the outlook surrounding Brexit was generally positive across Europe, 63% of IT leaders anticipate it could ultimately result in the disintegration of the EU. In Germany (78%), France (70%) and Italy (66%) this belief was significantly stronger.

Given the changing political climate, 95% admitted Brexit specifically had impacted their decision-making process. While, 96% said the overall current political uncertainty in Europe (e.g. US and Russian foreign policy) had impacted their decision-making. As organisations have been forced to respond to the changing business landscape, the majority of IT leaders have shifted their infrastructure choices to focus on driving more agility. In total, three in five European organisations (61%) are pursuing new digital transformation projects. The UK follows closely behind the European average with 60% of IT decision-makers investing in technology that allows them to continuously innovate and maintain a competitive edge.

Matthew Finnie

Across Europe, the top drivers for digital transformation projects were cited as reducing costs by improving operations (46%), enhancing the employee experience through more mobile and social capabilities (45%) and improving the customer experience (41%). However, in the UK, enhancing the employee experience emerges as the top priority for nearly half of the companies (45%), which may indicate a desire to improve employee productivity and create great customer experiences.

Matthew Finnie, CTO of Interoute, commented, “The UK and mainland Europe is in the middle of a period of political uncertainly, which is impacting IT decision makers across all sectors. The more ambitious organisations see this as a time of opportunity where the right technology investments will result in high growth and an enhanced experience for employees and customers alike. Changing foreign policy politics, Brexit and even new GDPR regulations are forcing organisations to review the legal, financial and operational aspects of their business.

Digital transformation is about creating an organisation that is flexible enough to respond to market and geopolitical changes. Organisations that move now to ensure they have the right digital infrastructure foundation in place will undoubtedly be the best placed to succeed in these uncertain times.”

Interoute, a global cloud and network provider, has revealed new survey results showing almost two-thirds (63%) of businesses across Europe are anticipating high growth in the year ahead.

Despite its turbulent outlook, the UK was only slightly behind the European average at 61%. As the political climate presents opportunities for those countries and companies that can move at pace, on average 70% believed Britain leaving the EU was an opportunity for their company.

In the survey of more than 800 European IT decision-makers, business confidence surrounding Britain leaving the EU was highest in France (83%) and Belgium (78%) but lowest in Sweden (49%). While the outlook surrounding Brexit was generally positive across Europe, 63% of IT leaders anticipate it could ultimately result in the disintegration of the EU. In Germany (78%), France (70%) and Italy (66%) this belief was significantly stronger.

Given the changing political climate, 95% admitted Brexit specifically had impacted their decision-making process. While, 96% said the overall current political uncertainty in Europe (e.g. US and Russian foreign policy) had impacted their decision-making. As organisations have been forced to respond to the changing business landscape, the majority of IT leaders have shifted their infrastructure choices to focus on driving more agility. In total, three in five European organisations (61%) are pursuing new digital transformation projects. The UK follows closely behind the European average with 60% of IT decision-makers investing in technology that allows them to continuously innovate and maintain a competitive edge.

Matthew Finnie

Across Europe, the top drivers for digital transformation projects were cited as reducing costs by improving operations (46%), enhancing the employee experience through more mobile and social capabilities (45%) and improving the customer experience (41%). However, in the UK, enhancing the employee experience emerges as the top priority for nearly half of the companies (45%), which may indicate a desire to improve employee productivity and create great customer experiences.

Matthew Finnie, CTO of Interoute, commented, “The UK and mainland Europe is in the middle of a period of political uncertainly, which is impacting IT decision makers across all sectors. The more ambitious organisations see this as a time of opportunity where the right technology investments will result in high growth and an enhanced experience for employees and customers alike. Changing foreign policy politics, Brexit and even new GDPR regulations are forcing organisations to review the legal, financial and operational aspects of their business.

Digital transformation is about creating an organisation that is flexible enough to respond to market and geopolitical changes. Organisations that move now to ensure they have the right digital infrastructure foundation in place will undoubtedly be the best placed to succeed in these uncertain times.”

We’re so excited to welcome the 15 new and returning fellows that will be joining us in San Jose, California for ARIN 40 this October! Since 2009, we have welcomed 83 fellows to our Public Policy and Members Meetings to expand our educational outreach and add new voices to our public policy discussions. We’re proud to see that number grow to 98 with our most recent additions. We had the chance to get to know our fellows a bit better in preparation for ARIN 40, and thought our community would like to learn more about them too!

We asked our fellows to share with us why they decided to apply, or reapply, for a fellowship.

Barb Carra explained she applied not only due to suggestions from her colleagues, but also because she is “extremely interested in learning more about the ARIN mandate and grassroots approach to developing policy.” Bartlett Morgan said he had been encouraged to apply in the past, but decided to apply now because he has “started representing clients who make use of ARIN’s number resources, so it was of practical value to better understand how ARIN’s processes operated.” Christopher Regan was encouraged by a friend to apply and said, “I believe that I could learn from and make valuable connections with the other attendees, and contribute based on my prosecutorial background.” We are happy to hear that many of our new fellows were encouraged by friends and co-workers to apply.

Returning fellow, Austin Murkland, is glad he decided to reapply after his “incredible experience” attending ARIN 39. Nancy Carter says she reapplied for an ARIN fellowship because “when ARIN 39 was over I knew that I wanted/needed to go to the next meeting. ARIN is a community that I want to be part of and contribute to.” Gerard Best, based out of Trinidad and Tobago, explains “I was able to attend an ARIN on the Road event in Dominica and have been looking forward to the removal of ARIN’s domicile requirements ever since. When the announcement was made, I immediately applied.” And we’re so glad you did, Gerard!

We were curious to learn what our fellows hoped to gain by attending ARIN 40. Frank Bulk looks forward to “networking with other folks in the industry,” and Loris Taylor wants to “learn more about what makes up the Internet technical community” as well as “the technologies, resources, and services used to run the Internet.” Jose de la Cruz said “learning from the experts about IPv6 and DNS is always a rich experience,” and Glenn McKnight hopes to gain “a more in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of ARIN.” The great news is we plan to provide all of this and more for our fellows and attendees at ARIN 40!

An important part of being an ARIN fellow is learning how you can contribute to the ARIN community after your fellowship is over, so we asked our fellows what their future plans are. Barb Carra hopes to broaden her depth of knowledge related to policy that governs our use of the Internet because she believes “it’s important to share this information with our Canadian community to improve awareness and adoption of good practice.” Kerrie-Ann Richards explains “the Internet is the future and I need to be on the ground floor of policy. There is little awareness of ARIN in the Caribbean and I will be more able to lead discussions that have an effect on the needs of persons/entities from developing nations.”

Jeremy Austin has already started following policy development much closer than before and says “If I have experience or knowledge that can expand the pool, I look forward to contributing, particularly concerning community networks.” Rudi Daniel plans to “continue to participate on the PPML, and as the Caribbean region matures, I am able to contribute more.” And Adrian Schmidt believes by attending ARIN 40 it will “help me grow and be more valuable for my main place of work (a small university located in the middle of Alberta) as well as be a resource for others.” We look forward to seeing how all our fellows will remain involved and active in the ARIN community after San Jose!

We asked our fellows to summarize their feelings about being selected in one word, and the responses we received include:

Thankful (Loris Taylor)

Elated (Glenn McKnight, Kerrie-Ann Richards)

Ecstatic! (Frank Bulk, Jose de la Cruz)

Encouraged (Jeremy Austin)

Excited (Rudi Daniel, Barb Carra, Christopher Regan)

Spectacular! (Austin Murkland)

Phenomenal (Cesar Oscar Cordero Casilla)

HOORAY! (Nancy Carter)

Delighted (Adrian Schmidt)

We can already tell this is going to be a great group of fellows who are eager and ready to get involved in policy discussions and networking at ARIN 40.

Congratulations once again to our ARIN 40 fellows. We can’t wait to see you all there!

We’re so excited to welcome the 15 new and returning fellows that will be joining us in San Jose, California for ARIN 40 this October! Since 2009, we have welcomed 83 fellows to our Public Policy and Members Meetings to expand our educational outreach and add new voices to our public policy discussions. We’re proud to see that number grow to 98 with our most recent additions. We had the chance to get to know our fellows a bit better in preparation for ARIN 40, and thought our community would like to learn more about them too!

We asked our fellows to share with us why they decided to apply, or reapply, for a fellowship.

Barb Carra explained she applied not only due to suggestions from her colleagues, but also because she is “extremely interested in learning more about the ARIN mandate and grassroots approach to developing policy.” Bartlett Morgan said he had been encouraged to apply in the past, but decided to apply now because he has “started representing clients who make use of ARIN’s number resources, so it was of practical value to better understand how ARIN’s processes operated.” Christopher Regan was encouraged by a friend to apply and said, “I believe that I could learn from and make valuable connections with the other attendees, and contribute based on my prosecutorial background.” We are happy to hear that many of our new fellows were encouraged by friends and co-workers to apply.

Returning fellow, Austin Murkland, is glad he decided to reapply after his “incredible experience” attending ARIN 39. Nancy Carter says she reapplied for an ARIN fellowship because “when ARIN 39 was over I knew that I wanted/needed to go to the next meeting. ARIN is a community that I want to be part of and contribute to.” Gerard Best, based out of Trinidad and Tobago, explains “I was able to attend an ARIN on the Road event in Dominica and have been looking forward to the removal of ARIN’s domicile requirements ever since. When the announcement was made, I immediately applied.” And we’re so glad you did, Gerard!

We were curious to learn what our fellows hoped to gain by attending ARIN 40. Frank Bulk looks forward to “networking with other folks in the industry,” and Loris Taylor wants to “learn more about what makes up the Internet technical community” as well as “the technologies, resources, and services used to run the Internet.” Jose de la Cruz said “learning from the experts about IPv6 and DNS is always a rich experience,” and Glenn McKnight hopes to gain “a more in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of ARIN.” The great news is we plan to provide all of this and more for our fellows and attendees at ARIN 40!

An important part of being an ARIN fellow is learning how you can contribute to the ARIN community after your fellowship is over, so we asked our fellows what their future plans are. Barb Carra hopes to broaden her depth of knowledge related to policy that governs our use of the Internet because she believes “it’s important to share this information with our Canadian community to improve awareness and adoption of good practice.” Kerrie-Ann Richards explains “the Internet is the future and I need to be on the ground floor of policy. There is little awareness of ARIN in the Caribbean and I will be more able to lead discussions that have an effect on the needs of persons/entities from developing nations.”

Jeremy Austin has already started following policy development much closer than before and says “If I have experience or knowledge that can expand the pool, I look forward to contributing, particularly concerning community networks.” Rudi Daniel plans to “continue to participate on the PPML, and as the Caribbean region matures, I am able to contribute more.” And Adrian Schmidt believes by attending ARIN 40 it will “help me grow and be more valuable for my main place of work (a small university located in the middle of Alberta) as well as be a resource for others.” We look forward to seeing how all our fellows will remain involved and active in the ARIN community after San Jose!

We asked our fellows to summarize their feelings about being selected in one word, and the responses we received include:

Thankful (Loris Taylor)

Elated (Glenn McKnight, Kerrie-Ann Richards)

Ecstatic! (Frank Bulk, Jose de la Cruz)

Encouraged (Jeremy Austin)

Excited (Rudi Daniel, Barb Carra, Christopher Regan)

Spectacular! (Austin Murkland)

Phenomenal (Cesar Oscar Cordero Casilla)

HOORAY! (Nancy Carter)

Delighted (Adrian Schmidt)

We can already tell this is going to be a great group of fellows who are eager and ready to get involved in policy discussions and networking at ARIN 40.

Congratulations once again to our ARIN 40 fellows. We can’t wait to see you all there!

We are big fans of making sure the Internet is secure, and a lot of that comes from understanding how networks communicate with one another on the Internet. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) request a block of IP addresses from a Regional Internet Registry (RIR), such as us! The RIR records this information in a publicly accessible registry. Network administrators then configure their routers to announce their IP addresses to the rest of the Internet. However, network administrators will sometimes announce IP addresses that don’t belong to them, either by accident or on purpose. A wrongly announced IP address block can take an entire network offline.

So, what can you do to prevent this from happening? The answer is Resource Certification. As IPv4 address space depletes, an urgent need exists to strengthen routing security, and we are here to help you with that.

What is RPKI?

RPKI stands for Resource Public Key Infrastructure and its purpose is to be one of the main building blocks behind routing security on the Internet. Using cryptographically verifiable certificates, RPKI allows IP address holders to create public statements specifying which Autonomous Systems are authorized to originate their IP address prefixes. These statements, known as Route Origin Authorizations (ROAs), allow network operators to make informed routing decisions, and help secure Internet routing in general.

Why use it?

Internet routing is dependent upon many chains of relationships that are based on mutual trust. Each party trusts that the route used to transmit information is safe, accurate, and will not be maliciously altered. This was sufficient in the early stages of Internet development, but has become increasingly vulnerable to attack as the Internet’s resources have seen a massive increase in usage.

As IPv4 address space continues to deplete, it’s increasingly important to strengthen your routing security. RPKI helps to ensure that Internet number resource holders are certifiably linked to those resources, and reliable routing origin data is available to help determine routing decisions.

Here are a few examples of when RPKI could have prevented disaster:

In late 2013 and early 2014, Dell Secure Works noticed /24 announcements were being hijacked. Amazon, OVH, Digital Ocean, LeaseWeb, and Alibaba networks were being routed to a small network in Canada. Data between Bitcoin miners and Bitcoin data pools were intercepted – an estimated haul of $83,000. All of this could have been prevented with RPKI.

The Turkish President ordered censorship of Twitter. Turk Telekom’s DNS servers were configured to return false IP addresses, so people started using Google’s DNS (8.8.8.8). Turk Telekom hijacked Google’s IP addresses in BGP. RPKI could have stopped this from happening.

In another instance, Pakistan Telecom was ordered to block YouTube. They originated their own route for YouTube’s IP address block which resulted in YouTube’s traffic being temporarily diverted to Pakistan. This incident could have been prevented with widespread adoption of RPKI.

Internet routing today is vulnerable to hijacking, and the provisioning/use of certificates is one of the steps required to make routing more secure. Widespread RPKI adoption will help simplify IP address holder verification and routing decision-making throughout our region.

How can I participate through ARIN?

ARIN Online users may now participate in RPKI, and it is a free, opt-in service. In order to participate you will need:

IPv4 or IPv6 resources obtained directly from ARIN

A signed RSA or LRSA covering the resources you wish to certify

ARIN Online account linked to an admin or tech Point of Contact (POC) with authority to manage the resources you wish to certify

For detailed instructions on how to participate in RPKI through ARIN Online, please our RPKI info page.

F5 Networks has released the results of a new study into the UK’s app-centric society and consumer behaviours. The research reveals over a quarter of Brits (26%) do not check app security measures before downloading them, even though almost 30% believe hackers are likely to use shopping apps like Amazon and eBay to target their devices. […]

F5 Networks has released the results of a new study into the UK’s app-centric society and consumer behaviours. The research reveals over a quarter of Brits (26%) do not check app security measures before downloading them, even though almost 30% believe hackers are likely to use shopping apps like Amazon and eBay to target their devices. […]

A major development is underway for Australia and New Zealand’s long range IoT connectivity market. Sydney based startup Thinxtra is seeking to raise $20 million to develop the country’s first national IoT network.

Thinxtra is a Sigfox operator that has raised $11 million since its inception in 2015. The company has grown rapidly to meet the growing demand for IoT connectivity in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia.

WIth this investment Thinxtra hopes to go head to head with Telstra, Australia’s current leader in telecommunications for the emerging connected device market who is targeting a 2020 roll out for its 5G network to support the influx of IoT devices.

Thinxtra and the Sigfox network currently reaches more than 70 per cent coverage of the Australian population and 83 per cent of New Zealand. The company intends to support the roll out of the Sigfox LPWAN network to cover 95 per cent of both Australia and New Zealand by the end of 2017.

Loïc Barabcourt, the 28 year old CEO of Thinxtra stated “We think that IoT right now is very similar to where the internet was in the 90s when it had just become available to the masses.”

Earlier this week, on-demand laundry startup Washio told its customers that it was shutting down its service. Founded in 2013, the Los Angeles-based startup provided laundry and dry cleaning services to customers in six U.S. cities. At first, customers had to schedule the pickup and drop-off ahead of time, but in 2015, Washio added the option of a pickup within 30 minutes.

But all that “innovation” didn’t prove sufficient, despite the nearly $17 million Washio raised from investors like Sherpa Capital, Canaan Partners, and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Washio is far from the first startup in the so-called “on-demand” economy to call it quits. Last year, Homejoy, a service that dispatched house cleaners with the tap of an app shut down after it couldn’t raise additional funds, was slapped with a labor lawsuit, and generally failed to create a sustainable business, as Backchannel detailed in a lengthy report. Valet parking apps Caarbon and Vatler folded last year, and “Uber for kids” startup Shuddle shut down in April.

And we’re only going to see more of them die. Why?

Because despite their fancy mobile apps and funding from technology-focused investors, these startups are in the business of providing a consumer service. They must build complex operations that involve customer interactions and delivery staff while competing in low-margin, labor-intensive businesses.

Ask anyone in the service sector and they’ll surely tell you it’s no walk in the park. Even supposedly “mature” companies like Uber, which now offers rides and food delivery, still struggle with things like customer service, managing drivers, and providing consistent service to customers.

It doesn’t matter how shiny your app is, if you lose my laundry or burrito, make me pay a small fortune, and still can’t deliver it on time, it’s game over.

This is the Startup Sunday edition of DataSheet, Fortune‘s daily tech newsletter, edited by reporter Kia Kokalitcheva. You may reach me via Twitter, email, or an entirely new platform that your startup developed. Feedback welcome.

Everyone’s Talking About

DraftKings. The daily fantasy sports site has had a rough year thanks to regulatory complications in several states and an inquiry in New York into an employee’s potential use of insider information. But all hope is not lost: The company has reportedly raised $153 million in new funding, albeit at a lower valuation than it had after its previous round of funding. (Fortune)

Unicorn Watch

Uber poaches senior Target exec. The ride-hailing company has hired Target’s marketing chief, Jeff Jones, as president of its core business. Jones will be responsible for worldwide marketing and operations. (Fortune)

Uber-Didi Chuxing merger is under antitrust scrutiny in China. China’s Ministry of Commerce has opened an investigation into the merger of the two ride-hailing companies. (Fortune)